14 DAY TRIAL // Customers currently running Office 2010 RTM will be able to download and deploy the first upgrade for the productivity suite by the end of next month.
At the same time, Microsoft plans to start offering Office 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM via Automatic Updates later this summer.
“SP1 is expected to be available for download at the end of June and will be offered as an automatic update 90 days later,” the software giant revealed.
It’s important to remember that Microsoft synchronized the availability deadlines of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010, and as such, the first upgrades for the two products will also be released in tandem.
Customers can expect Office 2010 SP1 RTM and SharePoint 2010 RTM to be launched concomitantly next month.
“Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) will contain updates that improve stability, performance and security,” Microsoft stated.
It’s important to note that SP1 for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 will be nothing more than a standard service pack.
“SP1 will consist of minor updates, including all public updates through June 2011 and all cumulative updates through April 2011, in addition to some previously unreleased fixes that were made specifically for this service pack,” the company noted.
However, this is not to say that the first service pack for Office 2010 won’t also bring to the table enhancements designed to kick up a notch the experience of users worldwide.
Here are a few changes that Office 2010 SP1 RTM will bring to the table:
“o Better Internet Explorer 9 browser experience
o Improved Office Web Apps functionality and Microsoft SharePoint database performance
o Updates to all 40 SKU languages for Microsoft Office, including Galician, Basque, Catalan and Serbian Cyrillic
o Updates to Microsoft Access 2010, FAST Search Server 2010 for Microsoft SharePoint, Office Web Apps, Microsoft Project 2010 Search Server 2010 and Microsoft Visio 2010.”